A strong storm system across the Ohio Valley during the afternoon of Thursday, May 8th, pushed east toward the mountains Thursday evening. A boundary was trailing from the low across southern Virginia. This put the region in a high shear environment, meaning, winds at the surface were blowing from the southeast, while a few thousand feet above the surface, the winds were blowing out of the southwest at 40 to 50 mph. Supercells formed in the foothills and piedmont of Virginia, ahead of a strong but broken line of thunderstorms that formed just west of the mountains and became more organized by the time it reached the Blue Ridge. These severe thunderstorms brought EF-1 tornadoes, damaging winds, large hail and flash flooding to portions of Southwest Virginia.